The Principia, or First Principles of Natural Things #0

By Emanuel Swedenborg
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In 1734, Swedenborg published a large 3-volume work on the basic principles of nature and metallurgy, printed by Frederick Hekel, in Dresden and Leipzig.

The Latin title of Volume 1 was: "Principia Rerum Naturalium sive Novorum Tentaminum Phaenomena Mundi Elementaris Philosophice Explicandi". This can be translated into English as "Basic Principles of Nature or of New Attempts to Explain Philosophically the Phenomena of the Natural World".

Volume 2 extended the general principles laid out in Volume 1 into the particulars of the metallurgy of iron (one of Swedenborg's many areas of expertise). It was titled "Regnum Subterraneum sive Minerale: De Ferro . . .", or, in English, "The Subterranean or Mineral Kingdom: On Iron . . . ".

Volume 3 shifted the focus from iron to copper and brass. Its title was "Regnum Subterraneum sive Minerale: De Cupro et Orichalco . . .", or, in English, "The Subterranean or Mineral Kingdom: On Copper and Brass . . .".

This work was translated into English by Rev. Augustus Clissold, and published in London by Wm. Newbery in 1845-1846.

We haven't imported the text of this work into this site, largely because the texts contain many diagrams and mathematical formulas which the scanning/OCR process hasn't yet handled very well. Still, for scholars of Swedenborg's early work, this is an important part of his literary output, so we've listed the work, and offer the useful links to Clissold's translation below.

- Hathi Trust online scan of "The Principia"

- Internet Archive online scan "The Principia"

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